Monday, April 29, 2019

THE EXISTENTIAL THREAT WE FACE. BETO O'ROURKE.

David,

The greatest threat we face — which will
test our country, our democracy, every single one of us — is climate change.

The planet has warmed more than 1-degree
Celsius just since 1980 — helping to cause historic fires, floods, hurricanes
and droughts seen throughout the world and in the U.S. This warming is caused
by our own excesses, our emissions and our own inaction in the face of the
facts and the science.

But we have 12 years to shift course and
avert the deadliest impacts that will follow warming of 3 or 4 degrees, or
even more. The next president must ensure that we unleash the ingenuity and
political will of hundreds of millions of Americans to meet this moment
before it's too late.

That’s why today I want to share our plan
to fight climate change. The action steps enclosed begin on day one. But
given the gravity of the work that lies ahead, we know that this fight will
require much more than a president signing a handful of executive orders. We
will need a full mobilization of our democracy and economy — every single one
of us, joining together — to defeat the gravest of threats to humanity.

We begin by cutting pollution on day one,
reentering the Paris Climate Agreement and curbing fossil fuel production on
public lands. We continue by making a historic investment in infrastructure,
innovation, and people that mobilizes $5 trillion over the next 10 years to
confront climate change head on. And we will leave nothing to chance: our
administration will establish legally enforceable standards to guarantee that
we achieve net-zero emissions by the year 2050 and get halfway there by 2030.

In all of this, we will be there for and
lift up the people and communities most affected by the dangers and
destruction of global warming. Our administration will increase funding
ten-fold to help vulnerable communities prepare for extreme weather. And we
will be there for these communities when disasters do strike.

Much as The Greatest Generation met the
existential threat to the western democracies nearly 80 years ago, and at the
same time helped to lift millions of Americans into the middle class, we have
an opportunity now to meet an existential threat to this planet by ensuring
that public health policy, economic policy, and the engine of a far more
conscientious capitalism is put to work in service of our ability to meet
this challenge.

Today, our campaign is traveling
throughout the Central Valley of California to discuss our plan. This is a
region that has borne many of the most devastating consequences of climate
change but also exemplifies the innovation and ingenuity necessary to take on
this challenge.

This moment of maximum peril may also be
our moment of maximum potential. Let us show ourselves, our children, and the
world that when we come together, there is no limit to what we can achieve.